Jeffrey Steele & Friends Support At-Risk Youth Through 18th Annual Benefit
The 18th annual Jeffrey Steele & Friends benefit concert took place March 3 at The Franklin Theatre in downtown Franklin, Tennessee.
The event was hosted by The BIG 615’s Storme Warren and Casey LeVasseur, and featured a packed surprise lineup that included Craig Morgan, Aaron Lewis, John Rich, Phil Vassar, Jessi Alexander, Keith Anderson, Angie Aparo, Charles Esten, Aaron Lewis, Lil’Skinny, Silence X Noise and Bridgette Tatum.
The evening’s performers played alongside Steele and his band for a night of incredible music and fundraising including group performances of “She’s Country” and “Every Day.” The night featured historic highs for the event, raising over $240,000 in donations, pushing the fund over the $2 million mark in dollars raised and continuing the mission of Steele and his family to support overlooked and at-risk youth in Middle Tennessee and beyond in the memory of Steele’s son Alex, who passed away in 2007.
“There was a time when we didn’t think we could get through one day without Alex, let alone 18 years,” says The LeVasseur Family. “The sting of grief does not stop, yet somehow we keep walking forward. One step at a time. Largely due to the help of all the friends who help to make Jeffrey Steele & Friends possible. Over these last 18 years this community has joined us in building a legacy to honor Alex and because of that we have raised over $2 million to help nonprofits in our area who are championing our youth and the kids of our community and in other neighborhoods and communities across the country to share Alex’s heart and giving spirit to those who need it most with our mission of supporting overlooked and at-risk youth through passionate activity and strong role models.”
The Alex LeVasseur Memorial Fund has been able to build partnerships and lend support to youth-focused organizations including the YMCA of Middle Tennessee’s Teen Center, Skatepark and Y-CAP programs for at-risk youth, The Beat of Life and their youth-based music programming, The Skate Park Project nonprofit led by Tony Hawk which supports building skateparks across the country in the most vulnerable populations, and more. To date, the Fund has supported building 13 skateparks in under-served communities across the country.
Through a partnership with The Beat of Life, the Alex LeVasseur Memorial Scholarship Program has also been established giving vulnerable youth access to music education, instrument lessons and much more. In addition to these projects the LeVasseur Family opened the Alex LeVasseur Music Lab in the Brentwood YMCA Teen Center and Alex LeVasseur Memorial Skatepark. The concrete park located at the Brentwood Family YMCA opened last August.
